Domestic Partnership bill headed for final vote

A bill that would give same-sex couples the benefits of marriage through domestic partnership contracts is headed for a final vote in the Oregon Senate where it likely will pass.

The Senate Judiciary Committee promptly voted 3-1 in favor of the bill Wednesday after hearing testimony from two-dozen people during a two-hour public hearing.

"This is historic," said Sen. Ginny Burdick, chair of the committee. "We've been so long in recognizing that not all families are alike. All families need to be protected and nurtured."

Conspicuously absent at the hearing were opponents, who showed up by the hundreds to testify on the bill when it was before a House committee two weeks ago. That may be because the hearing came after only a two-day notice, it occurred during the early afternoon, unlike the evening House hearing, and most opponents figured their best shot was in the House, said Nick Graham, spokesman for the Oregon Family Council, a nonprofit Christian group that led the opposition.

Six people, including Graham, spoke against the bill. The bus loads of young people from Slavic Christian churches who testified at the House committee hearing did not show Wednesday.

The bill, which Gov. Ted Kulongoski supports, is expected to be scheduled soon for its final vote in the Senate.

House Bill 2007 would allow two people 18 or older of the same sex to enter a civil domestic partnership contract that would be registered with the county clerk. The contract would give the couple any right, benefit, immunity or responsibility that state laws give to married couples. These would include the right to inherit property, to give medical advice on a partner's behalf and to file joint state tax returns.

The contract also extends the responsibilities of marriage, including the need to file for a dissolution in the event of a breakup and to abide by court decisions on child support. A domestic partnership, however, would not include marriage benefits under federal law or have legal power outside of Oregon.

Opponents argued the bill was tantamount to marriage and undermined Measure 36, the initiative approved by Oregon voters in 2004 that declared marriage is legally valid only between a man and a woman. Graham argued in favor, instead, of a bill that would extend the benefits of marriage to any couple that headed a household and could not marry, such as two sisters. Some also opposed having the government legally sanction a relationship they viewed as immoral.

"Our cause is a righteous cause, and we are here today to take a stand in defense of our families, our communities and of our faith," said Charles Felton of Hillsboro.

Business leaders, Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams, the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, church leaders and the head of Basic Rights Oregon, the state's largest gay rights group, spoke in support of the bill. They argued the bill offered basic civil rights, would support and strengthen same-sex couples and their children and was not the same as marriage.

"We believe that our support for HB 2007 is firmly rooted in the biblical principles of loving our neighbor, liberating the oppressed and protecting the rights and dignity of those harmed by society," said the Rev. Daniel E. H. Bryant, past president of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, a group of 17 Christian denominations.

Gay and lesbian couples recounted problems they've experienced with parental and medical rights because their relationships have no legal status.

"Why can't we be treated like everyone else?" asked Deborah Dixon, a 50-year-old Portland nurse and partner of Brenda Smith, 59, also a nurse. "Why can't Brenda inherit the money that we've already paid taxes on without having to pay taxes on it again?"